Centenarian Charlie J. Griffin

Please lift your teacup and toast the upcoming 100th birthday of Charlie Griffin. He was born in the house that still stands at 243 Wibird St., on Nov. 29, 1907, the first of five children born to Michael B. Griffin, also a Portsmouth native whose parents had come here from Ireland, and Agnes (nee Buckley) Griffin, whose birt...

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By Tammi J. Truax

seacoastonline.com

By Tammi J. Truax

Posted Nov. 7, 2007 at 2:00 AM

By Tammi J. Truax

Posted Nov. 7, 2007 at 2:00 AM

» Social News

Please lift your teacup and toast the upcoming 100th birthday of Charlie Griffin. He was born in the house that still stands at 243 Wibird St., on Nov. 29, 1907, the first of five children born to Michael B. Griffin, also a Portsmouth native whose parents had come here from Ireland, and Agnes (nee Buckley) Griffin, whose birthplace is unknown. His father was a bookkeeper for the Frank Jones Brewery, then later worked at the local IRS office.

Charlie grew up in the South End with lots of other children to play with. His favorite childhood activity was baseball, though only the boys got to play. This wasn't organized Little League with adult supervision, just pick up games played in the street.

Streets were safe to play in as traffic wasn't a concern. Charlie also worked in the street, pedaling the Portsmouth Herald for two cents a copy. He attended St. Patrick School and graduated with the Portsmouth High School Class of 1926 and Suffolk Law School, Class of 1932.

He didn't leave home to go to college, but commuted by train from the station on Deer Street. When necessary, he'd hitchhike. He also worked his way through school making his way up to a management position for First National. That was a grocery store chain, not a bank, and Charlie managed the First National on Richards Avenue, and later on Bartlett Street. During that time, he waited on a customer he thought was rather cute, a Portsmouth native named Agnes Connell. He asked her to see a movie with him and she said yes. They were married in September 1940.

Together they made their home on Hillside Drive, purchasing what was then the third house in that neighborhood. After passing the bar exam on the first try and working full time for a few years, Charlie felt he'd saved enough money to open his own office, and he hung out his first shingle at 78 Congress St., renting an 8-by-20-foot office where he would operate a general law practice that lasted more than 50 years. He did everything from bill collecting to court-appointed criminal cases.

He has also been active in civic affairs with his accomplishments too numerous to list. For a time he was the city solicitor; he served on the Board of Adjustment, and on the School Board for 12 years. He was active in Democratic Party affairs, serving as both city and county chairman, and was once a delegate to the national convention. He always liked politics and says of the current race, "It's starting too early." For many years he was a member of the Knights of Columbus and the Lions. Some of his strongest childhood memories are of politically charged events as well, and perhaps they helped to shape the man he was to become.

He remembers well when Harry Truman came to town by train, and the day that World War I ended, and all the church and fire bells in town were rung. The townspeople walked to Market Square where a vendor turned over all of his aging produce to the crowd, which included a young Charlie. He and all of his pals hurled the fruit at an effigy of "Kaiser Bill" hanging in the square.

He and Agnes were also devoted members of local Catholic congregations, and Charlie was a founding member of St. James parish. He is proud that he was made a member of the Order of St. Gregory, which is a distinction bestowed by the pope.

He is still doing remarkably well, and continues to work five days a week (after riding his stationary bike for 20 minutes each morning) as a volunteer at Portsmouth Regional Hospital where he visits patients, wearing a different, usually silly, hat each day. Of the work he says "It's a nice job, lots of nice people, I try to leave them smiling." That's how he left this writer.

Tammi J. Truax is a freelance writer, community activist, and single mom who can be reached at T4tu@comcast.net.